Acupuncture Therapy as an Evidence-Based Nonpharmacologic Strategy for Comprehensive Acute Pain Care: The Academic Consortium Pain Task Force White Paper Update

Background A crisis in pain management persists as does the epidemic of opioid overdose deaths, addiction, and diversion. Pain medicine is meeting these challenges by returning to its origins: the Bonica model of multidisciplinary pain care. The 2018 Academic Consortium White Paper detailed the historical context and magnitude of the pain crisis, and the evidence-base for nonpharmacologic strategies. Over 50% of chronic opioid use begins in the acute pain care setting. Acupuncture may be able to reduce this risk. Objective This paper updates the evidence-base of acupuncture therapy for acute pain with a review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses: post-surgical/peri-operative pain with opioid sparing, acute non-surgical/trauma pain including acute pain in the emergency department (ED). Methods To update reviews cited in the 2018 White Paper, electronic searches were conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for ‘acupuncture’ and ‘acupuncture therapy’ and ‘acute pain’, ‘surgery’, ‘peri-operative’, ‘trauma’, ‘emergency department’, ‘urgent care’, ‘review(s)’, ‘systematic review’, ‘meta-analysis’ with additional manual review of titles, links, and reference lists. Results There are 22 systematic reviews, 17 with meta-analyses of acupuncture in acute pain settings, and a review for acute pain in the intensive care unit (ICU). There are additional studies of acupuncture in acute pain settings. Conclusion The majority of reviews find acupuncture therapy to be an efficacious strategy for acute pain with potential to avoid and/or reduce opioid reliance. Future multi-center trials are needed to clarify the dosage and generalizability of acupuncture for acute pain in the ED. With an extremely low risk profile, acupuncture therapy is an important strategy in comprehensive acute pain care.